Double Dynamite (1951)

Thanks for the memories!

Nice effects though.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Just watched this on a Netflix disc. It's the only teaming of Frank Sinatra, Jane Russell, and Groucho Marx. It's largely because of the last name that I had in interest in seeing this and I wasn't disappointed as he's as funny as you expect him to be with all those wisecracks that cracks me up the way he does them. Sinatra shows his vocal chops to good effect when he duets with both Marx and Ms. Russell on their numbers. The supporting cast is also good of which one of them, William Edmonds, is one of the players from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life-he played Mr. Martini there. Here, he has a much bigger role of a restaurateur who's Groucho's boss as Groucho is a waiter here. The plot-about an embezzlement-gambling mixup-gets partially confusing but the way it's performed here, at least it wasn't boring, that's for sure! So on that note, I say Double Dynamite is worth a look.

Frank Sinatra's last role under his contract with RKO was this slight comedy Double Dynamite. It was also the last time he played a milquetoast schnook. Double Dynamite was started in 1948 but Howard Hughes in his infinite wisdom kept under under wraps for three years, not releasing it until Christmas of 1951. In a backhanded way he may have helped Sinatra because in 1951 the film offers were not coming and at least his name was kept before the public eye.Hughes could read the trade papers though and the Sinatra who had box office clout in 1948 had little in 1951. Probably Frank was going to be billed below Jane Russell in a Hughes production in any event, but he was third billed below Groucho Marx in this one.If this had been done at Paramount you would have seen Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton in the roles Sinatra and Russell have. They're both bank tellers at Howard Freeman's bank, but Freeman's in retirement and it's run by his playboy son Don McGuire and manager Harry Hayden.Frank and Jane make $42.50 a week, not a princely sum even back in 1951 and poor Frank goes and asks for a raise from Hayden. Personally I thought it was his best moment in the film. The way Hayden just jawbones him out of the raise reminded me of Branch Rickey negotiating salaries with baseball players. Right around the time this film was being made, there was a campaign against Rickey being orchestrated by New York Daily News sports columnist Jimmy Powers. One of the tags Powers hung on Rickey was El Cheapo. Based on the stories that Powers and others told about Rickey beating down every dollar a player might ask for, I have no doubt Rickey was the model for Hayden's character.Anyway Frank lucks into a windfall when he saves a notorious bookmaker, Nestor Paiva, from a beating being dished out by a rival mob. In gratitude Paiva 'lends' Frankie a thousand dollars and he bets on several 'sure things' with Paiva and he walks away with $60,000.00.But as Frank returns triumphantly from Paiva's betting parlor, he discovers Hayden making a speech to the staff about someone embezzling a lot of money. Not even Russell believes him. His only ally is their good friend, a waiter at a one arm spaghetti joint, Groucho Marx.At this point Groucho really takes over the film. He gives Sinatra and Russell all kinds of advice, romantic and financial, about how to deal with this perplexing situation. One of them being put all the money in his name. They do that and Groucho does live it up in grand style.Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn wrote two of their most forgettable songs. With the release held up for three years, Sinatra never even bothered to record them for Columbia Records where he was at the time. Kisses and Tears is a duet with Jane Russell and there's a comedy patter number, It's Only Money for Groucho and Frank. Sinatra was usually given some great songs by Styne and Cahn in the forties, but they definitely failed him here. If it wasn't for Groucho Marx, Double Dynamite might very well be several notches lower in my estimation. When he's not on the screen you just wait for him to come back. I have a funny feeling that Groucho stole the film from Jane Russell who Hughes was trying to build up and that that was the reason it was held up for three years.I marvel that Jane Russell had any career at all considering Howard Hughes's obsession with her two weapons of mass destruction. Double Dynamite is the third film that I know of that he held for years before releasing that starred her, The Outlaw and the noir classic His Kind of Woman were the other two. Good thing she did The Paleface with Bob Hope over at Paramount and out of his reach.Besides those mentioned look for a nice performance by William Edmunds as Groucho's suffering employer, Mr. Baganucci. And Don McGuire is really quite the wolf in wolf's clothing as he keeps sexually harassing Jane.It's not a great film, it might have been better had it been in the hands of someone like Preston Sturges at Paramount.

DOUBLE DYNAMITE (RKO Radio, 1951), directed by Irving Cummings, teams popular crooner Frank Sinatra with "double dynamite" co-star Jane Russell for the only time. Playing the romantic leads, they are supported by the wisecracking cigar smoking Groucho Marx, formerly of the Marx Brothers comedy team, in his second solo effort following COPACABANA (United Artists, 1947), and his first as a supporting player.Set in California during the Christmas season, Johnny Dalton (Frank Sinatra) a young bank clerk working for California Confidity Trust making $42.50 a week, finds he's unable to marry Mildred "Mibs" Goodhug (Jane Russell) because of lack of suitable earnings to support her. Johnny has stiff competition with Bob Pulsifer Jr. (Don McGuire), the bank president's lazy son, who can't keep his eyes off Mibs (and who could blame him?). While Johnny asks J.L. McKissack (Harry Hayden) for a raise, he is refused and later advised in jest by his close friend, Emile J. Keck (Groucho Marx), a waiter at Mr. Baganucci's (William Edmunds), restaurant, to go rob the bank, but Johnny hopes to come up with a better solution without using Emil's other method, gambling. After Johnny saves a bookie (Nestor Paiva), later identified as "Hot Horse" Harris, from a severe beating by rival mobsters in an alley, he takes the young man over to the Style Best Shirt Shop, actually a front for his off track betting establishment set in a secret back room, with a Santa Claus standing outside as a lookout. Showing his appreciation, the bookie offers Johnny $1,000 in cash, which he refuses. Instead, the bookie invests the money on a sure bet for Heavenly Queen, a racehorse, to win, and does. More bets follow before Danny wins take home money of $60,000. Returning to the bank from his lunch hour to break the news to Mibs, he holds back after being told that the bank has a shortage of $75,000, and all employees are placed under suspicion. With Mibs accused of embezzlement, and Danny unable to prove his good fortune now that the bookie and his establishment have disappeared and the shirt shop now run by elderly women, his next problem is what to do with the money? A straight comedy with brief musical interludes composed by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn features: "It's Only Money" (sung by Groucho and Frank Sinatra); "Kisses and Tears" (sung by Sinatra and Jane Russell); and "It's Only Money" (Sinatra, Russell and Groucho).DOUBLE DYNAMITE might have been a great comedy had it been produced during the the heyday of screwball comedies of the 1930s, for that's where the material would have worked best, with possibilities of Groucho retaining his Emile role, Chico as Baganucci, Harpo as another bank employee; Zeppo or Frank Albertson as Johnny, and Marie Wilson as Mibs. Reportedly filmed in 1948 under the title of "It's Only Money," and withheld release for another three years. By the time DOUBLE DYNAMITE, it's new title, played in theaters, Sinatra's career was declining (with a comeback only two years away), which explains why his name is credited third, following Russell and Marx, instead of first since much of the plot is devoted to his character from start to finish. While Sinatra gets by playing a timid bank clerk, having played shy-types before, it's Jane Russell who seems miscast with her "comic strip" sounding name "Mibs" performing in the Judy Holliday (of "Born Yesterday" fame) manner. Even if Russell changed her hair-color from brunette to blonde, she wouldn't have been as believable as she was convincing playing Calamity Jane in THE PALEFACE (1948) opposite Bob Hope. Russell does have one duet with Frankie from separate beds in separate apartments divided by a wall, but the best moment musically goes to Frankie and Groucho walking happily down the street together singing the catchy tune of "It's Only Money," even with the obvious rear projection backdrop.In true fashion, Groucho gathers the most attention with his funny lines while Sinatra and Russell carry on the plot with their fair quota of laughs. The screenplay also allows an amusing in-joke worth mentioning where a policeman on a hand radio giving his description report of Johnny Dalton "resembling Frank Sinatra." There are also character types, namely Frank Orth (Mr. Kofer, the Landlord); Howard Freeman (R.B. Pulsifer); Ida Moore (The Sewing Room Supervisor); and Harry Hayden, who all help provide DOUBLE DYNAMITE with some amusing moments during its 81 minutes of screen time.Formerly presented on American Movie Classics prior to 2000, DOUBLE DYNAMITE can be seen on Turner Classic Movies, or obtained through an out of print VHS purchase on E-bay at a higher amount over its normal price. Why not? It's only money!. (**1/2)

then you should check this movie out. First, it might be the best movie Groucho did without his brothers. I know that's not saying much, but he really does a good job without Chico or Harpo. I thought he would be able to get off more double entendres with Jane Russell. I mean the movie is named Double Dynamite because of her.Sinatra seems out of place playing a meek bank cashier that can't make a commitment to Russell. He's not a guy that would ever be invited to join the Rat Pack. Heck, Jerry Lewis could take on this Sinatra. And Russell probably would want to marry Lewis instead of Frank. How could he have taken this role? Russell does a pretty good job of playing off Sinatra and Groucho. She had a nice comic side that she didn't get to show often enough.This was the last movie directed by Irving Cummings. Cummings, who started out as an actor in the silent era, doe a good job of keeping the story moving along. He's no Hitchcock or Ford, but he does a pretty good job with a pretty thin story.I give it 7 out of 10 stars - a passing grade but not enough to make the honor roll.